Tuesday, October 9, 2012

With the pile of saffron I have it's time to start cooking up some recipes with saffron as an ingredient. So first up "easy" saffron risotto. This recipe was suggested by a friend it can be found at Food.com and adapted from Magnificent 1st Prize Risotto.

All the ingredients ready to go

Saffron the star of the show

Saffron soaking in the chicken broth

Stir, stir, stir and stir some more is the rule for risotto

The finished dish

I say easy but the technique is all in the stirring, stirring, and stirring. I used aborrio rice and threw a handful of pistachios on top at the end for garnish (and because I really like them and they have that middle eastern touch). So here goes! On a rainy raw fall day this is became a creamy warm comfort food. The weather was cold so standing around the warm stove was not a bad way to spend an hour.

The results: Not as yellow as I wanted but that was probably due to the chicken stock, but it was creamy and hit the spot. Now that I have this big pot of risotto, I know what I will be eating for the week. Saffron RisottoIngredients:5 cups chicken stock1 pinch saffron thread (could do without, but adds colour and flavour)5 tablespoons butter1 medium onion, finely chopped1 garlic clove, finely chopped1 1/2 cups risotto rice (could also use short grain sticky rice)1 cup parmesan cheeses salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring stock to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer.

2. Ladle a little stock into a small bowl; add the saffron threads and let infuse.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

When I say saffron you say expensive. These little red threads come in the smallest of packages for the largest amount of money. And when I say the Middle East do you think rugs, gold, and other goodies? Because that's what I thought when the hubster was deployed to the Middle East. Those items are on my wish list just like most travelers to this part of the world. When asked what I wanted, I wanted saffron (OK, I really do want a rug or two and some gold). Having been conditioned to the small amounts of what we buy in the western world I was in shock and awe at what came out of this of the priority envelope from the hubster. Wrapped in the comics that I had sent weeks before were two plastic containers of the red threads that are as precious as gold. My eyes bugged out--like a cartoon character! So now what? I divided up the one container in small parcels (think drug dealers) and took it work to share with co-workers. One colleague suggested I sell it and then I could retire. With one container left I was stymied, so I did what one really tech savvy person would do and put it on social media asking my friends for recipes. I received many so now I have a project to work on. I decided to start out with easy ones like saffron risotto and work up to paella and Moroccan dishes as well as well as dishes from Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

I have several more containers coming in the mail. Just how much saffron can one person accumulate in one year? We'll see. If I am retired in a year you'll know how much saffron I received!